Uninstalling SQL Server Management Studio 2014 in Windows 8

Question

I have a student who installed SQL Server 2014 with tools, but the Management Studio part did not install. There is no SSMMS.EXE on the machine.

So I tried to reinstall it, and the Management Studio tools come up checked but grayed out, so the SQL Installer will not let me make any changes.

So I tried to uninstall SSMS from the control panel-->uninstall programs. However, it was not there.

So I uninstalled all SQL Server programs, then I killed all running instances, then I deleted all the MSSQLServer files under both program files and program files (x64). Then I updated Visual Studio 2010. Then I tried to reinstall SQL Server.

Again, the tools appeared, but they were checked and grayed out.

Soooo. SQL server thinks the SSMS tools are installed and thus will not let me reinstall them. However, they are not installed, so I cannot remove them.

Any idea how to convince SQL server that the tools are in fact absent?

Answer 1

Caution incomplete answer but several more things to try:

1) Could you provide the link to the download you're using - potentially SQL Server management studio (SSMS) is not included so thus can't be installed? From reading the FAQ's this looks to be the case (http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/data/hh322942)

Try this link for installing http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=29062

2) Another thread covers a potentially related instance where express was also installed and caused a block to install SSMS. (Can't install SQL Server 2008 R2 management tool (complete))

3) A long shot would be if anything is left over in the registry which is causing the block. See if there is still and entry in [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Microsoft SQL Server] and if so rename to "_bkp"

The last two suggests are long shots but you could try: 4) Try repairing the installation: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc646006.aspx 5) Try installing as logged in as another user.